I will be back soon
by Anrheithwyr
Summary: Astoria, despite being sick, heads off to the Ministry to argue for her and Pansy's freedom.


"You don't have to do this, Astoria," she says, tugging the girl backwards, feeling the bones underneath Astoria's skin, which is pale and stretched. "You don't have to just go away and leave me here. Please, I _love_ you."

"And I love you even more, Pansy, which is why I'm doing this in the first place. You know I don't have a choice. They took my son away from me. They_ took_ my baby from me for nothing more than falling in love with you. And now, they're threatening to take you away from me, too. If something were to happen to you, something that I could _prevent_, then I would never be able to forgive myself for as long as I live." Astoria's eyes are shining brightly, her bones easily seen under her skin.

Astoria looks sick and weak, in no state to be running off to fight against the Ministry, who was attempting to arrest the two women for crimes of which they were innocent. Crimes, the Minstry said, that included the murder of Astoria's husband, Draco, and the torture of mugles.

But they have done nothing of the sort. Draco had simply disappeared one day without warning, walking out the door, never have said a thing, and he had never come back. And the accusations of tortured muggles are little more than false claims meant to make the women look worse and more dangerous than they truly are.

And though Astoria is barely healthy enough to walk anymore-having gotten violently ill with a form of Dragon Pox that was sweeping across the country, infecting even the healthiest of wizards-she is insisting on facing off the Ministry, to argue their claims against the two women.

Pansy begs her not to go. She knows that Astoria is not healthy enough to argue, not healthy enough to debate her innocence, but Astoria has been trained as a lawyer, and will not let Pansy go in her stead, no matter how many times Pansy offers.

"It is my job, and my job alone, Pansy. I love you more than anything in the world, but if you get hurt, I'd rather be dead. Just know that you are the light of my life, the brightest thing I have left to live for, and please, for the love of Merlin, _stay home_. I don't want you following after me and getting hurt because you think it'll help somehow." Astoria fixes her with a sharp look, knowing that Pansy is already considering how to get around Astoria's orders.

"Okay, Astoria," Pansy says, letting go of the too thin, too bony, too sick, Astoria. She wants to give the younger girl one last kiss, but Astoria is already out the door before Pansy can even ask.

…

"Pansy Parkinson?" the Auror asks when she opens the door, and Pansy's immediate thought is that they have come to arrest her. Astoria has failed, and now they are both going to be thrown into Azkaban for crimes they were not a part of. They will be separated and humiliated and tortured, and Pansy will never see her love again.

"I'm her, yes," Pansy says, trying to stay calm, even though she is shaking so badly that it is hard to focus on the Auror's face as he speaks. "What do you want? Why are you here?"

"You were the only name listed for Astoria Greengrass," the Auror explains, and motions to be let inside. Pansy does not move, though, because she does not want this man in her house, not when it is people like him who are painting her and her girlfriend as evil. "We did not know she was so sick, or else she wouldn't have been called in to argue her case. I'm sorry."

"I don't understand," Pansy replied, giving him a puzzled glance. What had happened to Astoria? Have they already arrested her? Is she already on her way to Azkaban, worrying about Pansy, who is still shaking, but is attempting to stand tall and proud against the Auror.

"She's dead, ma'am. Astoria Greengrass died during questioning, of Dragon Pox, which reports tell me she had been suffering from for quite some time. As her last remaining friend, she had you listed as the one we were to give her belongings to. However, because of the accusations against you, her belongs-and the body in question itself-cannot be handed over at this time. If you don't mind coming with me, I can bring you to the Ministry so that you can finish up the case that has been started against you."

"Dead?" Pansy repeats, because it is the only part she understood. "Astoria is dead?"

No, that's not possible. Astoria couldn't be dead, she had promised that she would be coming back soon enough, having won their freedom, having proven those idiots at the Ministry wrong. Astoria couldn't be dead, because that would mean Pansy was all alone in the world.


End file.
